The Pregnancy Stick Palace Collection
by TerribleWaitress
Summary: As named by a typo and the Snowflake Snugglers over at FanForum. A collection of one-shots of Lenny announcing their pregnancy.
1. Toastie

**A/N - So over at the Snowflake Snugglers thread on FanForum we were talking about babies and how they might announce they're pregnant and then it was suggested to do a collection of one shots... and apparently that fell to me... and then we were talking about Penny's parents and I decided right, Meryl and Wyatt have to be in the first one because they're the best! So here we are. I dunno how frequent these will be. Just whenever I have an idea and write it out, I guess. So, anyway, enjoy the Lenny cuteness :) **

* * *

"You fancy going for a ride this afternoon, sweetheart?" Meryl asked, placing down her now empty coffee mug. "Weathers good so we'll be able to jump the fences without getting all muddy everywhere."

"Oh, umm, no." Penny shook her head, pushing the toastie her mother had made around her plate before picking it up and taking a bite. "_Mm_, this is so good. I've missed these."

"Yeah, guess who had to go buy the ingredients and scrub the toastie pan." Wyatt sighed with an amused smile. "Nothing changed since you left, eh?"

"It's 'cause you love me, Daddy." Penny grinned through a mouthful of food. "Your baby girl comes home to Nebraska, if Mom asks you to do something, you do it."

"Mm, this really _is_ good." Leonard nodded approvingly. "I see what Penny was going on about when she was going on about toasties on the plane."

"Well I'm glad you think so. That fares well for your visits since it's Penny's favorite thing to eat." Wyatt chuckled.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure her favorite thing to eat is something Leonard can provide." Meryl smirked. Unlike her daughter, the morning hours didn't stump her quick-thinking mind.

As Leonard choked on his bite of toastie, Penny's eyes widened in disbelief. "Mom!" Growing up, she'd gotten used to this joking and teasing from both her mother and sister - however, these weren't things she was ever comfortable with around her father, and she was certain Leonard hadn't expected this on their first morning in Omaha.

Thankfully, her father never really got the jokes. "Oh, you cook, Leonard?"

"I, uh, yes." Leonard replied awkwardly, before preoccupying himself with a large bite of toastie he could only pray not to choke on.

"What kind of stuff do you cook?" Wyatt asked, genuine interest in his tone, only causing Meryl to stifle a laugh.

"Uhm," Penny chewed on the food in her mouth as she tried to think of an answer. Looking around the kitchen, she prayed for inspiration as her eyes fell on the vegetables her mother had taken out to cook later for lunch. "Chilli. He makes chilli."

"As in chilli con carne?"

"Sure."

"You never used to like that."

"Oh, she does when it's Leonard's... chilli con carne." Meryl chuckled, before returning to her coffee.

"Good on you Leonard, she never liked it when I made it."

Waving her hands around her head and pulling a face, Penny groaned. "What the hell are we even talking about? Can we not talk about chilli? Or who makes it? Eugh!"

"I am so confused." Leonard mumbled.

"We're here for two weeks, unfortunately you'll get used to it." Penny told Leonard, before glaring at her mother. "Mom is a huge fan of ruining... well, everything."

"I don't ruin _everything_. I pick opportune moments for funny jokes."

"They're not funny." Penny insisted.

"Alright sweetheart. You just drink your coffee and then you to go get washed up, it's a nice day out, you don't wanna miss it, else you'll be stuck showing Leonard around Omaha in the rain."

"Yeah, about that." Penny said slowly, placing her hands in her lap. "I can't."

"You can't show me around Omaha?" Leonard raised a brow.

"No, yes, I can." Penny flashed a smile his way before looking at her now empty plate. "I was talking about the coffee."

"Now _I'm _confused." Meryl said.

"Me too." Wyatt nodded.

"You're... you're not gonna have your coffee?" Leonard asked, only half-jokingly in disbelief.

Penny looked from her parents to Leonard, chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm pregnant."

In the same moment, Penny pulled out Leonard's inhaler from her dressing gown pocket and shoved it into his hands, Leonard clutched his chest, Meryl screamed "oh my God!" while her arms flailed and knocked over her empty mug, whilst Wyatt dropped his mug and spilt coffee over the table.

"Are you serious?" Meryl asked, gripping the edge of the table as Leonard took two deep puffs from his inhaler, her voice high.

"I'm gonna have grandkids?" Wyatt asked quietly.

"Yup." Penny replied sheepishly, nervous from having made her announcement but amused by the chaos in front of her.

"We're having a baby?" Leonard finally got out, putting his inhaler down.

"We're having a baby." Penny confirmed, placing a hand on his arm, her grin not fading.

"This is so exciting!" Meryl jumped up and skipped around the table to hug her daughter, before pulling Leonard into the hug too. "Oh, you two! You make me so happy!"

"Congratulations, Slugger. You too, son." Wyatt grinned, a slight tear in his eye as he joined the embrace.

"Okay, guys, feeling the love but pregnant woman and asthmatic nerd here!" Penny reminded them after a while.

"Oh! Right!" Meryl jumped away, pushing Wyatt back slightly too. "Aww, you guys."

"We're really having a baby?" Leonard asked again, in a state of excited shock. "As in... a baby?"

"Yeah." Penny giggled, standing so she could move closer and put her arms around him. "We are."

"Oh my God," he half whispered, half laughed as it sunk in. "This is amazing."

"I know." Penny smiled, a tear coming to her eyes. "Oh God, I thought these tears were over, I already had them from freaking out and then from being happy and _then _from deciding to wait until now to tell you all at once..." Sighing, she giggled again. "Oh what the hell, I can blame the hormones for the tears." Putting a hand on his cheek, she placed her lips over his and kissed him, blushing with joy when he gently kissed her back.

"You gonna blame them for that too, sweetheart?" Meryl laughed. "Just not in the kitchen."

Turning her head to glare at her mother, Penny found she couldn't; her smile refused to leave her face. Dropping her hand from Leonard's face to link with his, she simply shrugged shrugged instead. "Fine. Not in the kitchen. C'mon sweetie, we've got some celebrating to do."

As the two of them left the kitchen, Penny giggling with a slightly amused and bewildered Leonard following her, Meryl let out a small laugh before she began to clean up the mess that was made as a result of the exciting news.

"Reckon she'll want chilli for dinner then?" Wyatt asked, grabbing a cloth to wipe up his spilt coffee.

"Oh, she will." Meryl smirked to herself. "I think we'll go out for dinner though to celebrate. You know, it won't grow up in a house with no wheels, so that's worth a bottle of champagne in itself when it comes to this family. Though I guess no champagne for Penny. Now go on, clean up your coffee. Let's be quick and get out to the horses so those two can celebrate without us hanging around."


	2. Birthday

**A/N - Since in the last episode Bernadette mentioned Penny was getting Leonard a watch for his birthday (obviously this is more in the future than that episode was) I was like... ooh, fun idea! And I finally got round to writing it. So here it is! Glad you all enjoyed the first one, hope you like this one too :) I guess I'm just seeking all possible outlets for new episode excitement since that's tomorrow! **

* * *

"Happy birthday baby." Penny grinned, putting her phone down and abandoning her game of Star Wars Angry Birds as Leonard blinked his eyes open.

"Mm. Thank you." Leonard yawned widely, stretching out before sitting up beside her and pulling on his glasses.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I did, actually." Leonard nodded, tilting his head from side to side to relieve some of the tension in his neck. "You?"

"Ooh, yeah, I slept _really _well." The grin returned to Penny's face as she leaned to the side, opening the drawer at her bedside table and pulling out a neatly wrapped box and turning to him. "Here. I did get you a card but... it's all the way in the kitchen, so, present first."

"Aw, thank you." Leonard smiled as he accepted her gift. "But shouldn't I really open the card first?"

"Nah. Present first."

"Okay. I do like being rebellious." Leonard grinned, beginning to undo her surprisingly neat wrapping. He could feel her shaking her feet impatiently under the covers as she watched him eagerly, and after a few moments he pushed the paper off to reveal a sleek black box with _ROLEX _printed on it in gold. His eyes widened as he turned to look at her. "Oh my God, Penny, you didn't have to."

"Oh, I didn't." Penny said simply, her eyes shining with delight.

"Really? I was only joking when I said I wanted one. You didn't have to."

"Seriously. I didn't." Penny repeated, knowing he wouldn't get her hint.

"Well it looks like you d-"

Suddenly becoming speechless as he opened the box, Penny clapped her hands together in delight, squealing slightly. Unable to hold in her excitement any longer, she sat up on her knees. "They gave me _such _a weird look when I asked if I could just have the box, and, you know, nobody even does that, they were like, what the hell? But I was like, look, I need the box, seriously, and I refused to leave until they gave me one. I was actually going to buy a watch and then just use the box and give you the watch later as like, a second present, but, _wow _those watches are expensive - so, maybe your next birthday - oh, or Christmas! - since I have that commercial coming up. But, yeah, getting that box was such an effort, _man_ they are really protective over those things."

"Are you-"

"And I didn't wanna be like, oh, yeah, I wanna put this stick I peed on in your fancy Rolex box, the people there didn't look like they'd find that sort of thing romantic or a decent birthday present. Stupid snooty ass Rolex sales people. Anyway. Oh, plus I got a bit of pee on my hand when I took that test and I didn't think they'd think that was a funny story. I mean it's kinda gross but I laughed so hard I ended up peeing even more."

"Is this-"

"But really that was a good thing because I thought I'd take two tests just in case, since sometimes they can be wrong, and I thought if they're both positive I can keep one in my box and you can do what you want with that one, you can throw it away I don't really care, it was just a really good time to do this and the perfect way to tell you." She took a deep breath, dropping her hands down to her lap as she bit her lip in anticipation of his reaction. "So... yeah."

Leonard blinked at her. "You're pregnant?"

"I'm pregnant." Penny nodded, once more beaming. "We're having a baby!"

"Oh my God." Leonard dropped the box and stick onto his lap, before sitting up and kissing her; a response she seemed to have no problem with. "This is amazing. Best birthday _ever_."

"I thought it would be. And it's only just started." Penny tapped his nose. "Now you sit back," she said as she got up from the bed, throwing him the television remote, "pick something to watch, while I go fix up some breakfast in bed. Oh!" She skipped over to her bedside table, picking up a small bottle of antibacterial hand gel and tossing it to him. "Not sure how hygienic it is to be touching that stick right before eating breakfast."


	3. Bathroom

**A/N - As it's Mothers Day today in the US, and Leonard & Penny just got _engaged _(aah! eternal excitement!) on the show, I thought I'd write and put this up today. Got the whole gang in this one, fun fun fun. Hope y'all enjoy this one. Been loving the reviews, so glad you have like the two before this :) **

* * *

"I'm gonna go help Leonard bring up the groceries and takeaway," Penny said to Bernadette, pocketing her phone as she stood from the couch. "You and Amy can go over to 4A and let the guys know."

"Sure," Bernadette nodded, standing and picking up her bag as Penny flounced out of the apartment to head downstairs. Taking her mug over to the sink, on her way back to the door she called "Amy, the foods here so we're heading over to 4A."

"Yeah, I heard!" Amy called back from the bathroom. "I'll meet you over there."

Shrugging a shoulder, Bernadette left for 4A, finding the guys as expected: engrossed in a video game. "Takeaways here, Penny's just gone to help Leonard bring it up with their groceries."

"Where's Amy?" Sheldon asked, noticing the absence of his girlfriend without even having to turn his attention away from the game.

"Bathroom. Don't think those bran muffins agreed with her." Bernadette frowned, putting her bag down and sitting in the empty spot beside Howard.

"It's always a shame when that happens." Sheldon sighed, sitting back as his character was shot, his controller vibrating to let him know that his game was over.

"Oh my God, Bernadette!" Amy yelled, her voice high, as she practically ran into 4A.

"What?" Bernadette jumped up, panicked.

"Look at this!"

"Oh my _God_!" Bernadette whispered, her eyes growing wide behind her glasses. "Where did you find that?"

"Penny's bathroom trash!"

"What did you find?" Raj asked, pausing the game and looking up at the two girls curiously.

"This!" Amy exclaimed, brandishing the pregnancy stick in her hands to the room, a mixture of panic and excitement on her face.

"Is it _yours_?" Sheldon asked, raising his brows.

For a moment, Amy's expression turned into one of disbelief. "Really?"

Sheldon grinned proudly. "I'm kidding. I know it's not yours."

"Well whose is it?" Howard asked, dropping his controller beside him, gaping at his wife.

"Lets see, it was in Penny's trash, and it's a pregnancy stick, so my bet is its Leonard's." Bernadette rolled her eyes. "_Whose do you think, dumbass_?"

"What's Leonard's?" Penny's voice came from the doorway, and the gang turned their heads, wide eyed, to look at her. Raj let out a nervous squeal reminiscent of the noises he'd make back when he couldn't speak in front of girls but wanted to get the attention of his friends.

"Umm." Amy pivoted slowly to face Penny. "This?"

Penny's hands tightened their grip on the bag of takeaway she was holding against her chest. Her tone was flat as she asked, "where did you find that?"

"The trash can in your bathroom." Amy raised a brow at her question; if it was _her _pregnancy test, surely she would know where it had been found.

"Oh." Penny looked at it for a moment, before snatching it from Amy's hands. "Why were you going through my trash?"

"I blew my nose and threw my tissue away, it was right there at the top." Amy explained carefully as the rest of the room listened in a tense silence.

"So you just thought you'd pick it up without even thinking maybe I don't _want _you to?"

"What's the big deal?" Bernadette finally piped up. "It's negative anyway."

"Yeah. That one is." Penny said sharply, placing the takeaway down on Sheldon's desk, which made him flinch slightly.

"Does your uterus say otherwise?" Sheldon asked, glaring at the bag of hot takeaway food sitting beside his laptop.

"Well, the other two pregnancy tests say otherwise. And the blood tests say _definitely _positive. So yes, I would say, my uterus _does _say otherwise." Penny folded her arms across her chest, her eyebrows raised high as a stern expression took over her face.

"So you _are _pregnant?" Bernadette asked.

"I just figured you were either trying or just thought you might be." Amy said quietly. "And didn't want to tell us."

"You guys are not to say a _word _to Leonard." Penny said strictly, pointing a finger around the room.

"First you put a bag of hot _food _on my _working _desk, and then you expect me to keep a _secret_?" Sheldon looked at Penny questioningly. "That sure is a lot to ask for one person."

"You say anything and I swear to God, Sheldon, you're going to need a General Surgeon to remove this pregnancy stick from wherever it ends up after your ass."

"Gross." Raj turned his head down in disgust at the thought of what Penny had said as Howard put a hand over his mouth, gagging slightly.

"That applies to all of you. Got it?" Penny now pointed the stick in her hand around the room, jabbing it in the air toward each of them. "Not a _word _to Leonard."

"Not a word about what to Leonard?" Leonard asked, walking into the apartment as he put his phone away into his pocket. "I had to call my Mom, she doesn't believe in celebrating the day you were expelled from a birth canal, but she _does _believe we should thank her for the way we were raised. Getting to listen to her question where she went wrong with me is an annual treat."

"Penny put food on my desk." Sheldon said quickly, pointing accusingly to the bag.

"Sorry. I'll move it." Penny said quickly, jamming the stick into her pocket and grabbing the takeaway bag.

"You urinated on that stick and put it in your hands and then touched the _food _bag?" Sheldon stood up in outrage. "Have you no sense for proper hygiene?"

"Relax, Sheldon, I touched the bag, not the actual food!" Penny exclaimed loudly, putting the bag onto the kitchen counter.

Howard and Raj shook their heads while Bernadette and Amy looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They all knew that neither Penny nor Sheldon were particularly good at keeping things to themselves, especially when there was even the smallest argument going on between them.

"What did you pee on?" Leonard asked, confused, finally stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

"Oh _balls_." Penny muttered, as Sheldon was forced to sit back down by Howard tugging at his sleeve. "Okay, look, I wasn't going to tell you until later when it was just us two."

"Tell me what?" Leonard raised a brow as she walked toward him shyly, though he was pretty sure he could guess what was coming.

"Okay, you know-" Penny began, before she seemed to change her mind. "Can we not do this in front of everyone?" She hesitated, before taking his arm and leading him through the apartment. "Come here, I need to wash my hands anyway."

"_Thank _you." Sheldon mumbled.

Dragging him into the bathroom, Penny shut the door behind Leonard, running the toe of her shoe across the line of tape on the floor that Sheldon had placed down to indicate where the guys were to stand at the toilet.

"Umm. Why are we in here?" Leonard asked.

"Oh, right." Penny looked back up at him, shaken from her thoughts. Putting her hands on his arms, she bit her lip. "Remember how I told you that band-aid on my arm was because I accidentally cut myself? And how I was on the phone to my Mom this morning and stepped out into the hallway to talk to her and said I had bad reception in the apartment?"

"Yeah..."

"I didn't cut myself, it was a blood test. And the reception in the apartment is perfectly fine - I don't know why you believed me on that one, actually." Penny tilted her head. "So that one is really your own fault."

"Alright, I suppose it is." Leonard replied, wanting her to get to the point.

"I stepped outside to tell her what her present was for Mothers Day and I didn't want you to know just yet. It's grandchildren. For Mothers Day I told her she was gonna be getting a grandchild." Penny explained. "And in case your mind is too in shock from working that one out, the blood tests were to confirm that I was pregnant. Two of the sticks said positive, but this one said negative." Pulling out the stick from her pocket, Penny put it in his hands. "Okay, I need to wash my hands now, I've been touching that _way_ too much."

Leonard stood there, stunned, as Penny simply turned and washed her hands at the sink. She dried her hands on her sweater, seemingly deciding not to risk being told off by Sheldon for using his hand towel.

"Anyway, I thought I'd tell you later and then you could give me your own little Mothers Day treat. This mama deserves some extra love." Penny smirked, before sighing when she saw his expression hadn't changed. "Oh, come on sweetie, I thought you'd kinda figured it out when you asked me what I peed on!"

After a moment, Leonard finally nodded his head. "Kind of. But still. When you actually _say _it, it still feels like a surprise."

"A good surprise though, right?"

"Definitely." Leonard smiled. "An _amazing _surprise."

"I was hoping you'd think that." Penny grinned. "Now throw that away, wash your hands and kiss me. Sheldon ruined the surprise and he'll hate the idea of my pee stick being in his trash and us making out in his bathroom."

"Making out?" Leonard turned his head from where he'd reached the sink, tossing the stick into the trash and turning on the tap.

"Yeah." Penny shrugged matter-of-factly. "I'm pregnant, you finding out the news needs some form of celebration. Our food will be a little cold but that's pretty much the only reason we'll be stopping at making out in here."


	4. Oh my God, Yes

**A/N - I am back with another! It seriously makes me happy that you guys are loving these so much. So thank you for the reviews, they make my day. Writing this one was worth the pain of not wearing my sling in order for me to be able to type properly. So, I hope you enjoy this addition :) **

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"Are you almost done in there?" Leonard asked through the bathroom door.

"Almost," Penny replied back, scrunching up her face.

"How long does it _take _to-"

"Leonard, shh, I'm trying to pee on this second stick and you talking is not helping!" Penny snapped in the direction of the door, her face relaxing when she heard a quiet "sorry" followed by silence.

A few moments later upon hearing the toilet flush, Leonard cautiously asked "can I come in now?"

"Yep."

Stepping inside the bathroom, he glanced quickly at the two pregnancy tests resting on the edge of the bathtub face down, before turning his attention to Penny, who was washing her hands. "How much pee do you need to get onto a pee stick? You took ages."

"I'm sorry, but in case you hadn't noticed, it's slightly harder for a girl to _aim _her pee at something than it is for a man." Penny rolled her eyes, snatching up the hand towel to dry her hands. "Plus I had to stop peeing halfway through so I could do the other stick, and I drank a _lot _of orange juice."

"Alright, I guess that's fair. Though I still don't see why you made me wait outside." Putting the toilet seat lid down, he sat down on it as Penny sat opposite him on the edge of the tub beside the sticks. "You don't close the bathroom door anymore, but the start of testing for pregnancy I have to miss out on."

"It's not a particularly attractive activity." Penny pointed out with an amused laugh. "It's okay, you get the best part. Or at least, what I _hope _is going to be the best part." Nodding her head to the two sticks beside her, they both knew she was referring to the best part being turning them over to find they were positive. "Don't you think it's odd how you decide to have a baby and then your fate relies on peeing?"

This got Leonard chuckling. "Not sure that's quite how I'd phrase it, but, yeah, sure, it is odd."

"It's so exciting." Penny grinned, bouncing her legs up and down, before reaching out and taking his hands in hers. "I'm so glad we decided to do this. Have a baby, I mean. It feels so... it feels like it's definitely the right thing to happen at this point in our lives."

"Me too." Leonard agreed, smiling. It hadn't been a particularly exciting conversation they'd had when they'd decided they wanted to have a baby. Penny had been sitting in bed, fiddling with her pill packet, and he'd asked her what she was doing. She'd simply turned her head to look at him with a soft smile before asking _"what would you think if I stopped taking these and we started thinking about children?" _- and that was that. It had surprised him how readily she had made this decision and how confident she'd been about telling him. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Leonard's smile grew into a grin. "And it's been fun trying."

"Of course it has." Penny grinned with her tongue between her teeth. "You'll have to forever remember how good those times were, because if that's positive, I am _never _going to look that good naked again."

Taking her comment too seriously, Leonard assured her, "don't be stupid. Of course you will."

Shrugging, Penny giggled. "Suit yourself, you're the one who has to look at me that way! Meanwhile, I'll have an excuse to eat all the ice cream I want. I'll just hit up the gym afterwards, it's hard work looking this good you know. Plus I'll drag you along and we can get Mr. and Dr. Biceps in gear."

"What is it with you and my arms?" Leonard enquired with an amused smirk.

"Your arms are amazing." Penny replied simply, running her hands up and down them as though to prove a point. Suddenly, her phone alarm went off, and she pulled it out of her hoodie pocket to switch it off. "Ooh, moment of truth!"

"Oh God." Leonard looked at her seriously, brows furrowed, before pulling out his inhaler and taking two puffs. Nodding, he pocketed it again. "Okay. How do you wanna do this?"

"One each and turn them over at the same time so we both see?" Penny suggested. "By the way, if our kids an asthmatic dumbass, I'm gonna start believing that he was conceived that time we did it twice and you had to use your inhaler in between."

"Uh, I don't think that's how these things work."

"Shut up and take a stick." Penny said, handing him one of the two sticks as she clutched the other in her hand.

"Okay." Using his free hand to take Penny's free hand, Leonard looked up at her and he felt her squeeze his hand. "One the count of three?"

"Uh-huh." Penny bit her lip nervously.

"One... two... three!"

"Oh my God, _yes, _Leonard!"

* * *

"Oh my God, _yes_, Leonard!"

Sheldon stopped in his tracks as Penny's squeal travelled through her apartment and through to the hallway between 4A and 4B, a deep frown of disgust covering his face as he shuddered, recoiling as her exclamation was followed by a scream. "Not this again." Digging his key out of his pocket, he quickly stepped into the safety of his quiet apartment. Not that it had always meant quiet, but it seemed to do the trick this time.

Unfortunately for him, Sheldon had learned over the years what Penny's use of that specific phrase meant, and it always made him uncomfortable. Even more so when Leonard had lived with him and the couple would spend the night in his room rather than at her apartment. No matter how many times he told them, they seemed to ignore his plea that they not do such things when all that separated them was a wall and two headboards, one of which would be too busy hitting out a questionable Morse code message to be an effective barrier.

Sighing, Sheldon placed his mail down on his desk and went to make himself a Strawberry Quik drink to accompany his newly planned afternoon of scheduled TV-watching. Just as he changed to the channel he needed, the door burst open to reveal an incredibly excited Penny, followed by Leonard.

"That was fast." Sheldon commented quietly as he frowned down at his watch.

Ignoring his comment, Penny stood with Leonard beside the TV. "Is Amy here?"

"No, she is visiting a colleague in hospital who got quite the horrific monkey bite on their hand." Sheldon sighed.

"Oh. That's too bad. Oh, hell, I'll tell her when she's back." Penny shrugged, putting an arm around Leonard.

"Tell her what?"

"We're pregnant!" Penny squealed.

"_Oh_! Is that why you, not long ago, exclaimed 'oh my God, yes, Leonard'?"

Blushing, Penny nodded. "In this instance, yes, that is why."

"Good." Sheldon smiled, relieved, before standing up. "Well, congratulations, both of you."

"Thank you, Sheldon." Penny smiled at him, and to her surprise he came over and quickly enveloped her in an awkward hug, before shaking Leonard's hand and hugging him too. "Oh, okay. Thank you."

"You said thank you twice."

"Yes... I know." Penny giggled. "I'm gonna go text my parents and see if they can talk on Skype, sweetie, I'll let you know what they say."

Leonard watched as Penny left the apartment to cross back over to their own. Sheldon came to stand in front of him. "I thought you would be positively ecstatic about this news."

"I am!" Leonard said quickly.

"Reading facial expressions isn't one of my strong suits, but your face seriously says otherwise."

"Sheldon, I am happy, of _course _I'm happy." Leonard sighed, sitting down on the couch. "I just suddenly thought as we came over... what if I turn out to be like my own father?"

Scoffing, Sheldon sat back down in his spot, taking a long sip of Strawberry Quik before placing it back down on its coaster to make up for the sentence he was about to say. "Leonard, there are few times I have been wrong. And even fewer that I have admitted I am wrong. But your hypothesis that you could turn out to be like your own father requires the sacrifice of my dignity."

"It's not a hypothesis, just-"

Holding up a hand, Sheldon cut him off. "First of all, I have often doubted the worthiness of your contribution within the field of Physics. Second of all, I _constantly _doubted that you would _ever _last with Penny. Third of all, I truly believed that those 'smart and beautiful' babies you mentioned when you first met her would be imaginary."

"I am very well aware of all of these things."

"Good. In which case, you should be well aware that I was very clearly wrong." Sheldon said seriously. "Your work has often been substantially useful and worthy within the field. Obviously, you are still with Penny. And now, you are going to have a baby with her."

"Again, I am very well aware of all of these things."

"Exactly. Leonard, those three things are all a result of how passionate you are about your job and your wife." Sheldon pointed out. "Even when you were at the point of failing, you never gave up. In all the years I have known you, you have never spoken so passionately about anything as you have about your work and Penny. The way you feel about them both is the way I feel about trains. And you know how much I love trains." Sheldon grinned.

"Yeah, I do." Leonard chuckled.

"What I'm trying to say is that, you were passionate enough to pursue and maintain both your career and relationship without ever having to sacrifice one or the other. Now, you are having a baby, and I have no doubt that you will be an excellent father. You have been waiting for this since day one, and that child is going to be lucky to have a father like you, who is not only passionate about his career but also his family, and is able to juggle both without ever putting down the other. Neither yours nor my father had that balance."

"Wow." Of all things Sheldon could have said, that was the last thing Leonard had expected to hear from him.

"Honestly, Leonard, for somebody so smart you can be incredibly stupid sometimes." Sheldon shook his head, turning back to the television. "Turn out like your own father... like your mother would allow for such a disastrous conclusion to her sons upbringing anyway."

"I don't think she'd care." Leonard pointed out, though at this point _he _didn't care about that either - he was too overwhelmed and touched by the words of his best friend. "But thank you, Sheldon. That was very nice of you."

"Oh, she would. And you're welcome. Now please, you've eaten into my viewing time and you have a pregnant wife to get back to."


	5. Chisel

**A/N - Hello! I am incredibly un-sleepy right now, and I've been on a bit of a writing spree today, so... here is this. Hope you enjoy :) **

* * *

Penny stopped her urgent pacing as Leonard walked into 4B with a brown paper bag, closing the door behind him and locking it. "Did you get them?"

"No, I just got a brown paper bag." Leonard raised a brow.

"There's no need to be sarcastic!" Penny exclaimed.

"Well considering I went out specifically to get pregnancy tests and a chocolate brownie, _why _wouldn't I have them?"

"Umm, once you went with the guys to pick up the takeaway and came back with a box of random crap." Penny pointed out, folding her arms.

"That was like... _years _ago!" Leonard protested. "Anyway, the point is, I have the pregnancy sticks and a chocolate brownie."

"Alright, sorry, I'm just nervous and I drank like a whole carton of orange juice." Penny said, bouncing from foot to foot.

"Okay, here," Leonard took the brownie out before passing the paper bag to her, "go pee on these."

Penny laughed. "That's such an odd thing to say. But okay. Otherwise I'll pee on the floor and all that orange juice will be for nothing. Put our phones on silent, I don't want anybody ruining the moment."

As Penny hopped off to the bathroom, not bothering to close the bedroom or bathroom doors, Leonard smiled. She was so confident that the tests would be positive; it warmed his heart. They had agreed to start trying for a baby a few months back, and this was the first time that Penny had felt the instinct to take a pregnancy test.

Upon hearing her begin the process of peeing on three differently branded pregnancy tests (_how pleasant, _he thought), Leonard shook his head and took his phone from his pocket to switch it onto silent and place it down on the coffee table beside hers, before doing the same to that one too. He put the brownie on a plate - surely her request for a chocolate brownie was a sign of pregnancy cravings? - before taking it with him into the bedroom, shutting that door behind him too and setting the brownie plate down onto her bedside table.

"How's it going in there?" He asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Done all three." Penny said, and he heard the toilet flush. "Messy business."

"That's... nice."

Washing her hands, Penny rolled her eyes. "You're the one who asked."

"Could have done without the messy detail."

Coming back out into the bedroom, Penny sat down beside him and put the three sticks upside down between them. "Well, messy or not, it got the job done. Now we wait."

"How long?"

Penny nodded to the alarm clock. "Based on what it said when I came in to go to the bathroom, once the big hand hits the 10, it'll be definitely ready to see."

"Okay." Leonard began bouncing his leg up and down anxiously, before Penny put her hand on his thigh to stop him. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay, it's just making me even more nervous." Penny said, her brows furrowing. "I'm just so certain they're all gonna say positive, but what if they don't?"

"I guess we just... accept it and keep trying."

"While I have no objections whatsoever to the 'keep trying' part," Penny paused to smirk, "when you have an idea in your mind of what they're going to say, it's hard to shift it. It's like, in my brain, the image of them being positive is literally set in stone."

"With a chisel?"

Penny giggled. "With a chisel."

"Did you know Sheldon once gave me a history of the chisel?"

"Uh, why?"

"Because I wanted to see if _he _got the chisel reference that time you didn't. Instead of a simple 'yes' or 'no' or even his usual comment along the lines of 'of course Penny didn't get it', I got a history of the chisel. Not even a condensed history. He went on for like, a half hour."

"Wow." Penny raised her brows. "Amy sure is a lucky girl."

"I think Sheldon lets her off and just gives her chisel factoids." Leonard chuckled.

"You laugh but that's probably true."

"Yeah... well, those two enjoy their factoids, so we don't have to worry about that. I bet Howard would've made about fifty chisel jokes by now. Or at least thought them."

"Leonard?"

"Yes?"

"This is a very long conversation about chisels."

"It is. I'm trying not to think about the test."

Penny wiggled her brows at him. "Now I'm trying not to think about _your _chisel."

"My chisel? I don't own a chisel." Leonard frowned in confusion, before his face lit up in understanding. "_Ah. _I get it now."

"You're kind of adorable when you do that."

"Do what?"

"When you take a few seconds longer to get the innuendo."

"I'm glad that even in your nervous state you can still come up with them."

"Eh, it's kind of a talent of mine." Penny grinned, before her eyes focused on the alarm clock behind him. "It's time!"

"Serious?"

"Yes!" Penny squealed, gripping onto his arm.

Pulling his inhaler from his pocket, Leonard took two deep puffs before nodding at her. "Oh boy. Okay. Are you ready?"

"I think I am." Penny smiled, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Either their lives were about to change, or they weren't. It was as simple as that, yet there was so much more to it. "Lets close our eyes."

"Who'll turn them over?"

"You. I did the peeing, you do the turning."

"Okay." Leonard gave her a quick kiss, before they shared an excited grin and shut their eyes. As he patted out to find and turn each stick, he could hear Penny squealing quietly under her breath. "All done."

"Open on the count of three?"

"Mississippily?"

"Umm... yeah. Mississippily. But you count it out loud." Her voice trembled slightly with a mixture of nerves and excitement.

"Okay." Leonard took a breath. "One, Mississippi. Two, Mississippi. Three... Mississippi!"

Eyes shooting open, their heads shot down to look at the three pregnancy sticks between them. Three positive pregnancy sticks.

"Yes!" Penny yelled, throwing her arms around Leonard, practically launching herself onto him and kissing him full on the mouth.

He only got the chance to utter out "oh my God!" when she pulled away and sat back up, her eyes returning to the sticks. "Penny, we're having a baby!"

"I know!" She grinned, her eyes shining. "A _baby_! A little Baby Hofstadter!"

"This is amazing!"

"Oh God, it really is." Penny nodded, her smile briefly faltering as she picked them up, the reality setting into her, before the grin was back in full force. "Okay, brownie first, then chisel."

"Fine, then I'm gonna have some of the Super Chewie Wookie Cookies I made earlier."

Penny rolled her eyes. "God, you're gonna use that stupid Star Wars cookbook to teach our child to bake, aren't you?"

"Yup. That learning technique is set in stone with a chisel too."


	6. Gift Bag

**A/N - I am back with more! I wrote something like this ages ago, but decided to just start from scratch. Hope you enjoy! Inspired by a little idea from Greys Anatomy, reminded by watching _The One With The Red Sweater_ :) **

* * *

Walking into 4B, Leonard smiled fondly for a moment as he shut the door at the sight of Penny contentedly watching television. "Hey honey."

"Hey sweetie." Penny's eyes didn't even leave the screen as he walked straight through to the kitchen. "How was work?"

"Yeah, it was alright. Sheldon flipped out because while they advertised three different flavors of Jell-O, they only had two in the cafeteria."

"Still a Whackadoodle then, huh?"

"Yup." Leonard shook his head in disbelief at his friends antics as he poured himself an orange juice. "How was your day off?"

"Pretty good. Went to the mall, had lunch with Amy and Bernadette. Apparently Bernadette knocked over this vial of... something I can't remember over with her handbag on her way out, so she took an extra-long lunch break to make sure nobody worked out it was her."

"Did they?"

"Nah. She text me to say she acted suitably shocked when she returned at the news of the broken vial."

"As all the best microbiologists do." Leonard chuckled lightly, swirling what was left of his juice in his glass. His eyes landed on a gift bag on the counter, and he wondered if he had forgotten about a party they had to go to. "What's the gift bag for?" He asked, expecting her to remind him it was somebody's birthday.

Instead, she gave a small shrug. "You."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"Uh... why?"

"I saw something I thought you'd like."

"Alright. Well, thanks. It's always nice to come home to a present!" Amused, he pulled the gift bag toward him. He found it odd that she'd thought to buy him something and put it in a gift bag, but seemed unbothered by it at the moment, still glued to the TV screen. Hadn't she seen that episode of _Sex and the City _like, fifty million times already? The dialogue seemed familiar even to _him_. "Shall I open it now?"

"If you want."

Hearing him tear off the little sticker that held the gift bag closed, Penny moved her thumb over to the 'off' button of the remote control on her hand. Raising her brows in anticipation, she listened to the silence as he took the object from the bag. She could practically hear him staring at it, and a grin spread across her face. Even imagining the expression on his face was exciting and filled her heart.

Eventually, Leonard recalled that he _did _have the ability to speak and read aloud. As if in synch, Penny shut off the television just as he opened his mouth. "_I Love My Daddy?_"

"Yes." Penny said steadily, smirking as she watched him in the reflection of the empty screen putting two and two together.

Slowly, he walked over to her, flopping down onto the couch, the yellow baby-grow from which he'd read the phrase aloud held between both hands. "I... this..."

"Uh-huh." Penny bit her lip as she turned, folding her legs beneath her. "Getting there, are ya, Doctor Hofstadter?"

"I... yeah." Leonard gulped. "You're-"

"Pregnant, yes, that baby-grow _is _meant for the baby, well done." Penny stifled back a giggle.

"Wow."

"I don't know why you're so shocked, considering the _serious _neglect of condoms and pills for like... a while. And the frequent sex. It's simple math, Leonard." Penny grinned, tapping his nose lightly.

"I know, but it's just... wow."

Dropping her hands to his, Penny's grin, if possible, widened. "Yeah, it kind of is, isn't it?"

"So we're... we're really having a baby?"

"_I'm _having the baby, technically, since you don't have to-"

"Penny!"

"Okay, okay, sorry." Penny stuck her tongue out between her teeth, unable to hide her excitement as she bounced up and down slightly atop her legs. "We're having a baby!" At this point, the anticipation of waiting all day since she'd taken the test in the morning the second he'd left for work finally getting its release, she all but launched herself at him, her lips covering his.

Just as it had been with meaning of the baby-grow, it took Leonard a few seconds before he worked out how she intended to celebrate.


End file.
